


dress them in warmth again

by coricomile



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Discovery, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-08-27 23:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16711870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coricomile/pseuds/coricomile
Summary: Venom exists. It thinks it has always existed.





	dress them in warmth again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [R_Knight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Knight/gifts).



Venom exists. It thinks it has always existed somewhere inside the galaxy, a black hole collecting hunger and anger and need and loneliness until it imploded into itself and came into real being. It does not tell this to the others, who still worship the Maker. It does not tell this to anything, host or prey alike. It feeds and it destroys and it rips host after host to shreds, trying to fill the hunger that lives inside its being. It thinks it can die. It wonders what is on the other side of existence, if it will become that black hole again, just waiting to be reborn. 

It feeds, and it is alone, and it thinks. 

Then comes the chamber, with its unbreakable walls, and the ship that drags it and its siblings across the universe, and weak host after weak host and too loud noises that make Venom jumble into useless, pained strings and then- 

_Eddie._

Eddie, whose insides scream _anger_ and _fear_ and _lonliness_. Eddie, with the gaping hole in his soul that Venom fits so nicely inside. Eddie, who calls them _we_ and feels like joy when Venom escapes the terrible, horrible flames and returns to him. Eddie, Eddie, _Eddie_. 

The universe is not quite so lonely when Eddie is with it. He won't let them eat eyeballs for snacks- delicious and tender, pop so sweet in the mouth, with creamy filling- but he takes them to a place called _Costco_ and buys pounds and pounds of chocolate in every shape and flavor. He feeds Venom with his delicate hands, careful of its teeth even though it would never bite him. Not too terribly hard, anyway. 

They share a stomach, share a source of energy that thrums through Venom like a heartbeat of its very own, but Eddie still wants Venom to show its face to eat, still insists on sharing bites of whatever he's having at meal times. He still gives Venom all the crunchy bones of his meals, the leftovers of chicken wings and the t-shaped bones of cows. For the human tradition of giving thanks, Eddie feeds Venom an entire turkey, feathers and all, and Venom thinks this is what devotion is. 

The Maker never fed it turkeys. The Maker didn't feed it at all. 

They _report_ during the day. It is boring and there is no blood at all, but Eddie says reporting is how they get chocolate and bones. Venom does not believe this entirely- they get the chocolate and bones from the store, Venom has seen the exchange of paper for them- but when Eddie publishes a new story, his insides are squirmy and happy and nervous and Venom gets to absorb all the excess feelings into itself, stealing away the chemicals and firing nerves. Eddie says that doing so makes Venom high, like the plant he breathes into their lungs sometimes. Venom cannot explain how it feels in human words, so it does not try. 

At night, Eddie sinks inside of Venom and lets them roam the streets for _bad guys_. They do not eat the people that steal things, or the people that yell in bars. But the ones that reek of blood, or the ones that reek of sex and fear sweat and rage- Venom devours them whole, crunching bones and tearing flesh. It does not miss the cruelty of its siblings, it does not miss the planet it once called home. Those things were bad for it, and Eddie is good, but-

But there is nothing, really, like a good, long night of rampaging destruction. 

Eddie does not look when they eat. He keeps his eyes closed and his mind busy, the phantom echoes of thoughts brushing against Venom's own mind. Eddie thinks of warm places with gritty dirt and places with crunchy leaves that look nothing like the ones Venom has seen before. Venom does not understand at all, but he is learning and Eddie teaches it by just existing with it. 

Eddie sleeps, which is boring. There is so much world out there, so many delicious bad guys they could be eating, so many things they could see, but when Eddie does not sleep, his mind goes fuzzy and Venom must protect him from walking into walls and doors and from falling over their feet. 

Their body is weak, but Venom is strong. It tweaks Eddie from the inside- heals their wounds, feeds little bits of itself into him to give him more life. It is exhausting work. Venom was not made to heal. It was made to rip and mangle and tear, made to destroy everything it comes into contact with. But there is the feeling of completeness when it mends Eddie's wounds, when it smooths over the angry hunger inside Eddie that threatens to eat everything good around them up. It was made to destroy, and now it creates. 

The Maker would be so displeased. 

Eddie's mind is always turning, fast and labyrinthine, his eyes nearly as sharp as Venom's own. But when he sleeps, he is soft and pliant and still. It is strange, to see the weak underbelly of him bared to the world, defenseless except for Venom inside him, watching, watching, watching, always prepared for a late night meal. 

While Eddie dreams, Venom picks through his memory, learns the foreign world of humans and humanities through Eddie's eyes, and when it grows tired of seeing too many faces and hearing too many words, it nibbles at Eddie's fingertips and ears and knees to learn about humans through a way that makes more sense. Humans mostly taste the same, Venom has found, but Eddie's skin is sweet and the sleep noises he makes when Venom's tongue touches him are curious. 

Venom does not feel the way Eddie does- its body does not have nerves, it does not have _skin_ \- but it has echos. It can tell the difference between the squirmy sensation in Eddie's whole body when Venom prods under his arms or along his ribs- _tickling_ Eddie had said through laughter when Venom had asked him about it- and the heavy sensation of weight and anticipation when it licks Eddie's thighs. It has been forbidden to touch the soft skin that hangs between them- "One of your teeth will cut it off," Eddie had said, truly horrified, as if Venom could not control itself- but Venom is very good at getting around Eddie's stupid human rules. 

Venom does not touch the skin directly, but it explores it from the inside, experiments with Eddie's patience as it makes the skin grow hard, as it rises the pulsing wave of feeling that seems to take Eddie over entirely, until Eddie touches it himself. Venom likes those nights, when Eddie fights against its hold on him, desperate and hungry in a different way than usual. It will win this battle one day, and it will touch as much as it pleases. 

They carve a space for themselves into the world together out of will and strength and stubbornness. They visit Anne and Dan for dinner once a month, Venom stirring restlessly under Eddie's skin, unable to show itself. Anne is smart. Anne knows they are together, but Eddie thinks they can lie. Venom does not see the point at all, but he patiently waits through these meals and Eddie rewards him with chocolates. They make a _routine_. They make a _life_. 

Venom exists. It may always exist. But with Eddie- it thinks it is finally alive.


End file.
